Rosamund was in the laundry room when Chadworth found her.
She had locked the door.
Not because she feared Sabina physically attacking her, but because her hands would not stop shaking.
She stood beside the washing machine staring at nothing.
Sabina's words repeated in her head.
I'm going to find my jewelry in your room.
It was absurd.
Cruel.
And terrifyingly effective.
Rosamund understood how easily it could work.
She was an employee.
Sabina was Chadworth Prescott's fiancée.
Sabina wore dresses that cost more than Rosamund earned in a month.
She knew attorneys.
She knew police commissioners.
She knew people whose names appeared on hospital buildings.
Rosamund had a checking account containing $2,814 and a mother in Rhode Island who still worried every time Rosamund drove after dark.
If expensive jewelry appeared in her room, who would believe her?
She had considered leaving immediately.
Pack a bag.
Walk through the gates.
Never return.
But Lorelai and Gemma stopped her.
Not literally.
They did not know what Sabina had just threatened.
But Rosamund kept thinking about Lorelai saying, Nobody else was protecting you.
Leaving would protect Rosamund.
It would also leave the girls alone with Sabina.
So she stayed.
A soft knock touched the door.
“Rosamund?”
She froze.
Chadworth.
For one terrible second, she assumed Sabina had already begun.
Rosamund opened the door.
Chadworth stood alone.
No suitcase.
No coat.
No Canada.
Her confusion immediately replaced fear.
“Mr. Prescott?”
“May I come in?”
She stepped back.
He closed the door.
Rosamund stared at him.
“I thought you left.”
“I didn't.”
Silence.
“I came back through the service entrance.”
“Why?”
His expression was unlike anything she had seen before.
Ashamed.
“Because I wanted to watch the cameras.”
Rosamund's face went white.
He spoke quickly.
“I know how that sounds.”
“You were watching me?”
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised her.
Rosamund looked away.
“Then you know.”
“I know.”
“All of it?”
“I don't know what all of it means yet.”
Her eyes filled despite her attempt to stop them.
“She put things in my room.”
“I know.”
Rosamund looked at him sharply.
“You found them?”
“Yes.”
“You believe me?”
The question came too quickly.
Too desperately.
Chadworth hated himself for making her need to ask it.
“Yes.”
Rosamund exhaled.
Her shoulders lowered as if she had been carrying a weight for months.
Then she became angry.
Not loud.
Rosamund rarely became loud.
But Chadworth saw it.
“You believed her before.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“When the bracelet disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“You thought I might have taken it.”
“Yes.”
She stared at him.
He did not defend himself.
Rosamund's voice shook.
“I've worked here for two years.”
“I know.”
“I have never taken anything from you.”
“I know that now.”
“You should have known it then.”
“Yes.”
She had expected resistance.
Excuses.
Instead, he accepted every accusation.
That somehow made her anger harder to maintain.
Chadworth continued.
“I failed you.”
Rosamund shook her head.
“This isn't about me.”
“No.”
“It's about the girls.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes hardened.
“They were afraid to tell you.”
He swallowed.
“I know.”
“Sabina told them you wouldn't believe them.”
“I know.”
“And they believed her because—”
“Because I wasn't here enough to prove otherwise.”
Rosamund stopped.
Chadworth looked toward the floor.
“I watched Lorelai say nobody else was protecting you.”
Rosamund's face changed.
“She shouldn't have said that.”
“She was telling the truth.”
“She was upset.”
“She was telling the truth.”
He looked at her again.
“You protected my daughters while I was busy telling myself that providing for them was the same as raising them.”
Rosamund said nothing.
“Thank you.”
Her expression softened.
But only slightly.
“What happens now?”
Chadworth explained.
The corporate theft.
Adrian Pike.
The altered trust documents.
Rosamund listened in disbelief.
When he finished, she whispered, “Sabina was stealing from you?”
“We believe so.”
“And she's been trying to remove me because...”
“You've seen too much.”
Rosamund shook her head.
“I don't know anything about your companies.”
“No. But you know my daughters.”
He finally understood it.
Sabina did not fear Rosamund's knowledge of financial documents.
She feared Rosamund's influence over the only two people capable of piercing Chadworth's blind spot.
His children.
“There's something else,” Rosamund said.
Chadworth waited.
“Two weeks ago, Gemma found Sabina in your office.”
“When?”
“Late afternoon.”
“What was she doing?”
“I don't know. Gemma said Sabina got angry and told her never to tell anyone.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Rosamund's eyes flashed.
“I tried.”
Chadworth froze.
“What?”
“I called your office.”
He searched his memory.
“You left a message?”
“I spoke to your assistant. She said you were in meetings.”
“Why didn't you call again?”
Rosamund looked at him.
“Because that evening Sabina told me you were tired of hearing complaints about her.”
Chadworth closed his eyes.
“She said that?”
“Yes.”
“She lied.”
“I know that now.”
How many messages had Sabina intercepted emotionally, even if not literally?
How many attempts to reach him had she reframed as jealousy or interference?
“Did the girls tell you anything else?”
Rosamund hesitated.
“Gemma once said Sabina told her the house would belong to her after the wedding.”
Chadworth frowned.
“And?”
“That her father would be too busy to care where they lived.”
A wave of rage moved through him.
Rosamund continued.
“I didn't know whether Gemma misunderstood.”
“She didn't.”
“How do you know?”
“Because we found draft documents involving the girls' trust.”
Rosamund stared.
“Would Sabina be able to send them away?”
“Not anymore.”
The certainty in his voice reassured her.
A knock sounded.
Marcus entered.
“We have movement.”
Chadworth turned.
“What?”
“Adrian's outside the east gate.”
“Why?”
“He's carrying a folder.”
Rosamund looked between them.
Marcus continued.
“Sabina texted him twenty minutes ago. We intercepted nothing, but one camera caught her screen reflection.”
“What did it say?”
“Do it tonight.”
Chadworth's expression hardened.
“What is ‘it’?”
“We're about to find out.”
They returned to the monitoring room.
This time, Rosamund came with them.
She felt uncomfortable watching private spaces, but Chadworth needed her to identify anything unusual involving the girls.
On screen, Sabina met Adrian inside the library.
He looked nervous.
She looked annoyed.
“You shouldn't be here,” she said.
“You told me tonight.”
“I didn't tell you to walk through the front gate.”
“We need signatures.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow is too late.”
Adrian put a folder on the table.
“The compliance team flagged two transfers.”
Sabina's face tightened.
“How?”
“I don't know.”
“Fix it.”
“This isn't a restaurant reservation, Sabina.”
She crossed her arms.
“What do you need?”
“Chadworth's authorization.”
“He's in Canada.”
“A digital signature won't be enough now.”
“So?”
“We need a document that appears signed before he left.”
Sabina stared at him.
Adrian removed several papers.
“I prepared it.”
“You want me to forge his signature?”
“You've done it before.”
Rosamund covered her mouth.
Chadworth's expression became stone.
Sabina glanced at the pages.
“What does it authorize?”
“Transfer of management control over the family investment vehicle temporarily to you upon marriage.”
Sabina smiled.
“Temporarily.”
“That's what the document says.”
“And what happens after the wedding?”
Adrian looked uncomfortable.
“You know.”
“Say it.”
“Once the amended documents are executed, you gain discretionary authority over certain holdings.”
“And the girls?”
“Their trust remains separate.”
Sabina's smile disappeared.
“That's unacceptable.”
Adrian stared at her.
“We've discussed this.”
“I want access.”
“You can't simply take children's trust assets.”
“Then change the structure.”
“Chadworth will notice.”
“He doesn't notice anything inside this house.”
The sentence hit him harder than she could have known.
Because there was truth inside it.
Sabina continued.
“He didn't notice his daughters were terrified of me. He didn't notice the maid was covering for them. He didn't notice eleven million dollars moving through his own companies. Don't suddenly pretend he's observant.”
Rosamund looked at Chadworth.
He did not react defensively.
Instead, he said quietly, “She's right about one thing.”
Marcus looked at him.
“I haven't been observant.”
Rosamund whispered, “That doesn't make the rest your fault.”
“No. But it explains how she got this far.”
On screen, Adrian lowered his voice.
“What about Rosamund?”
Sabina smiled.
“She'll be gone before Chadworth returns.”
“How?”
“The jewelry is already in her room.”
“And if she denies it?”
“She will.”
“Police?”
“If necessary.”
“What about the children?”
Sabina rolled her eyes.
“They'll cry.”
“Lorelai watches everything.”
“She is nine.”
“She doesn't trust you.”
Sabina's expression turned cold.
“She will learn.”
Rosamund's hands clenched.
Chadworth noticed.
“You okay?”
“No.”
He understood.
Adrian began gathering papers.
Sabina stopped him.
“Leave the authorization.”
“Why?”
“I'll handle it.”
“You don't have his signature.”
Sabina smiled.
“I have better.”
She walked to a cabinet and removed a leather document case.
Chadworth recognized it.
Inside were old contracts bearing his original signatures.
Sabina selected one.
Adrian stared.
“You're insane.”
“You've been copying signatures electronically for months.”
“That's different.”
“No. It's cleaner.”
Rosamund whispered, “She planned all of this.”
Chadworth nodded.
But then Gemma appeared on another screen.
She was walking toward the library.
Rosamund stood.
“No.”
Gemma opened the door.
Sabina and Adrian froze.
The little girl looked at them.
“Daddy said nobody is allowed in his file cabinet.”
Chadworth's heart stopped.
Sabina recovered first.
“Gemma.”
The child's face changed immediately.
Fear.
Adrian stepped back.
Sabina walked toward her.
“What are you doing down here?”
“I wanted Rosie.”
“Rosamund is busy.”
Gemma backed away.
Sabina followed.
“You didn't see anything.”
Gemma's breathing quickened.
Chadworth was already moving.
This time Marcus did not stop him.
Rosamund followed.
They crossed the hidden corridor quickly.
In the library, Sabina reached for Gemma's wrist.
The door opened.
“Don't touch her.”
Sabina froze.
Adrian turned so fast he nearly knocked over a chair.
Chadworth stood in the doorway.
Rosamund appeared behind him.
Gemma stared.
“Daddy!”
She ran.
Chadworth lifted her into his arms.
Sabina had gone completely pale.
“You're...”
“Not in Canada?”
No one spoke.
Adrian looked toward the opposite door.
Marcus stepped through it.
“Don't.”
Adrian stopped.
Sabina looked at Chadworth.
For the first time since he had known her, there was no prepared expression ready.
No graceful smile.
No wounded innocence.
Only calculation.
“Chadworth, I can explain.”
He looked at the papers.
The document case.
Adrian.
Then at Sabina.
“You've spent months explaining things to me.”
She stepped closer.
“Listen.”
“No.”
“You don't understand what you're seeing.”
“I've been watching since eight-thirty this morning.”
That destroyed the last bit of color in her face.
Gemma tightened her arms around his neck.
Sabina glanced at Rosamund.
Hatred flashed across her expression.
“You.”
Chadworth stepped between them.
“Don't look at her.”
Sabina's eyes snapped back to him.
“She manipulated this.”
Chadworth almost laughed.
Even now.
Even with evidence covering the table.
Sabina still returned to the same lie.
“Rosamund did not make you threaten my daughters.”
“I never threatened them.”
“I heard you.”
“They're children. They exaggerate.”
Gemma buried her face against Chadworth's shoulder.
His expression became cold.
“Do not call my daughter a liar.”
Sabina's composure cracked.
“I was trying to build a family with you!”
“By frightening the children already in it?”
“You spoiled them.”
“By planting jewelry in Rosamund's room?”
Sabina looked at Adrian.
He looked away.
Chadworth continued.
“By stealing eleven point four million dollars?”
Adrian whispered, “Sabina—”
She rounded on him.
“Shut up.”
Chadworth handed Gemma to Rosamund.
The child went willingly.
He walked to the table.
“You wanted me to sign this?”
Sabina swallowed.
“You don't understand the financial structure.”
“I designed the financial structure.”
Adrian looked toward Marcus.
“There may be a misunderstanding.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“There usually is.”
Chadworth picked up the forged authorization.
Then he looked at the woman who had expected to become his wife.
“The wedding is over.”
Sabina's face hardened.
“You're emotional.”
“No.”
“You're making a mistake.”
“The mistake was inviting you into this family.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You think you can humiliate me and walk away?”
“This isn't about humiliation.”
“You have no idea what I've done for you.”
“What have you done for me?”
“I stood beside you.”
“You stood beside my bank accounts.”
Sabina slapped him.
The sound filled the library.
Rosamund gasped.
Marcus moved forward.
Chadworth did not.
He simply turned his face back toward Sabina.
Gemma started crying.
And the moment Chadworth heard it, Sabina's slap ceased to matter.
He pointed toward the door.
“Get out of my house.”
Sabina laughed bitterly.
“You'll regret this.”
Marcus stepped between them.
“Miss Voss, you need to come with me.”
Sabina looked at Rosamund one final time.
“You think you've won?”
Rosamund held Gemma tighter.
“This was never a competition.”
For the first time all day, Sabina had no answer.